Gujarat poll effect: Sonia lambasts BJP at AICC

New Delhi, Nov 17 (ANI): With Assembly elections in Gujarat scheduled for the middle of next month, UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi today targeted the BJP, saying Gandhian ideas, ideals and institutions are under threat in our own country, and added that they are under sustained assault in the state of his birth itself and in other BJP-ruled states.” Addressing the All India Congress Committee (AICC) gathering here, Gandhi said, “No words are strong enough to condemn the BJP’s attacks on our Prime Minister and on our party. Virtually acknowledging that coalition politics is a compulsion of the current times, she said that working in a coalition did not mean that we give up our political space forever, and asserted the party would strive for achieving its past glory. Accepting that coalition is a balance and a political challenge, she said, But it is my firm view that the Congress should be taken to its glorious heights of the past. And the party was fully committed to running the UPA coalition in a totally harmonious manner. Gandhi said as a democratic organisation, there was freedom for internal debate and discussion in the party “but this has to be kept in mind that till such a time that the party does not give its views on an issue, no one should give his opinion publicly, and once the party gives its views, it is not acceptable that anyone gives his individual different view.” As regards other office-bearers, she said they would reach out to the workers and be available to them and spend more time in districts and villages so that the party’s activities are made vibrant. Gandhi also said that there was too much talk about anti-incumbency which she felt was not that insurmountable if the party remained fully active and in touch with the people. Dwelling on the outcome of the assembly polls in the last two years, Gandhi said, The results showed that the party has goodwill among the people, but the organisation failed to convert it into votes. In states like Bihar, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, party has tough challenges ahead and there was no alternative but to “stand on our own feet” by forgetting the differences, Gandhi added. Speaking on Nandigram, Gandhi said that the party was unsparing of the CPI (M) in West Bengal when the draft resolution at the meeting condemned the culture of violence and the cult of armed cadres in Nandigram. “All this is the natural outcome of a system where the interests of party cadres are placed above the interests of the people at large and the law and order machinery is not allowed to function professionally,” a draft political resolution of the AICC said. Commenting on Naxalism, she said the party has always viewed it as a question of law and order as well as a social issue. “Therefore, to fight extremism, administration in tribal areas should be more sensitive and focused on development,” she added. Earlier, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh described it as the most serious challenge to internal security. (ANI)